Emily Smith/Bohman got married!

One of my best friends from high school got married!! Emily is such an amazing friend and person. I wish her all the happiness in her new marriage! She is beautiful and she met such a great guy. I know Carl will take good care of her. Love you Emily!

 

Birthday Weekend Getaway/BYU-Idaho

Ryan surprised me for my birthday and took me on a getaway weekend to celebrate it. We dropped the kids off with my parents and went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Then he booked a really cool hotel room that used to be a bank in McCamon Idaho and then surprised me the next morning with an appointment to have a massage! It was wonderful. Afterwards we took off to Idaho Falls and had lunch at Olive Garden. Then we headed even farther north to Rexburg to visit where we met and fell in love....BYU-Idaho. We toured the campus and saw all the new buildings and visited old ones. It is always a special feeling when on that amazing campus. We went to my old apartment building...Normandy and also to Porter Park where we first got engaged. Thanks babe for a great weekend away!! Love you!

Date Night(s)

I think it's really important to have date nights with your spouse. Ryan and I stop doing date nights for awhile, not intentionally, but life just got busy and we forgot. We let a few other things slide as well and realized it months later as we were not feeling as connected or close to one another. To keep a marriage strong, it needs many things. And date nights and one-on-one time is one of those things!  Here we are back on track with our date nights...

Boise Temple Trip

We wanted to take the girls to the Boise temple re-dedication before it was closed again to the public. Not many people get the chance to show their kids where they were sealed and married. We  pulled Madisen out of school and took off early Monday morning to Boise. The temple was beautiful! It was beautiful beautiful, when we got married, but it was even more stunning this time around. The outside of the temple was covered in granite and the inside was changed to dark rich tone woods through out. The girls got to see the brides room where the bride gets ready, and the girls loved that room! They can't wait to be able to go to the temple someday and get married. The sealing room where Ryan and I were sealed was beautiful as well. It was such a great experience to be able to do that with the girls. 

Afterwards we went out to Chuck A' Rama for lunch.  

It was a fun day out with the family.

Avery's Prince Charming... (I guess I'll share).

This last Friday Ryan didn't have to work so he decided to take Avery on a Daddy daughter date. Avery loves her Daddy. A few weeks ago this conversation took place between them:

Avery: I am going to marry you Dad, when I grow up.
Ryan: I am married to mommy already.
Avery: Are you sure you don't want to change your mind?
Everyone else: LOL!
Me: Sorry Avery, Mommy beat you to it. He is mine! :) But I will share him with you, until you find your own prince charming someday.


Avery is definitely a Daddy's girl. I took this sweet shot before they left on their date.

They went to McDonald's or as Avery says, "Mickel-Donald's". She got a happy meal (twice in one month!? Woah! That's unheard of around here). They played for over 2 hours together and then went to the book store where Dad bought her a HUGE Princess coloring book. And he brought me home a little gift too, which I was so surprised by. I have been loving a new(sorta new) music artist named Adele. So he bought me her CD! Thanks Babe!

Some Happenings...

Yesterday, I got to drive down to Utah with my parents to wish my Grandma Newman a Happy 76th Birthday!  She is a beautiful woman and has accomplished so much in her 76 years of life. She has had 7 kids; she has 30 grandkids, and 35 great-grandchildren!  My Grandma has been very sick and hasn't been doing too well these days and I know that this was my last time visiting her. We found out a few weeks ago she has cancer in her stomach and upper shoulder area. The doctors don't give her much longer and it was hard to see her in that state of mind and condition yesterday. I know this is the last time I will get to see her. She can't really hold her head up anymore and is so weak that she can barely lift her arms.  She will be greatly missed when she passes but I hope she can be relieved of her suffering soon and return back home. She will be able to see and play with Ethan and that makes me more envious than I should probably admit but I am glad she will be able to be with him since I can't. My Grandma and Grandpa Newman and Grandma's sister, Jane.

August 31st was our 8th wedding anniversary, and our best friend Dan surprised us with a suite at the Black Swan Hotel. (Thanks Dan!) For those that haven't ever had a themed room should definitely reserve a room at one. It was so fun! We stayed in the Pirate room and pretended we were pirates all night. "ARRGH!"  OK... not really. So, yeah. Not a lot to say about this. ;)

In two days I am running the Pocatello MARATHON!!! 

26.2 miles. 

Ouch.

It's all MENTAL... 

I can do it. No sweat, right? Or something like that??

"Return to You"

I am home with my three girls today, who have all been sick the last few days, while Ryan heads to church to teach in Elder's Quorum. Today is my birthday, and as I sit and reflect back (which I like to do a lot) on past years and memories, my heart is full of love. I feel so blessed and my life is so rich with love and laughter, family, friends and kindness. I have such a wonderful family and friends who love me even with all my faults, shortcomings and stubbornness. Thank you for showing me love even when I am least deserving of it.

It's cold today. Very cold, but so beautiful as it snowed yesterday and sprinkled some this morning covering everything in sight. Most years it either snows on my birthday or the day before. To me, it's a birthday gift! Really I am not a fan of cold weather, never have been. In fact, I would rather live in Arizona or somewhere equally as hot. Yet, I love when it snows on my birthday. I love touching a spot in the snow that hasn't been tampered with. It's so PURE and white which makes me think about what Heaven might look like, only 100 times more spectacular! And my greatest desire is to be worthy to live with my Heavenly Father again.

I am not perfect, far from it. I probably make more mistakes than rights. And often times what I feel and want to show my parents, siblings*, spouse and kids comes out just the opposite. I pray to be a good person, neighbor, friend, mom and wife but fall short all too often. I want to be able to embrace my Savior. To touch His hands and feet, for Him to say He is proud of me. I want to be like Christ. I know that it is possible only through Him. I believe Him when He says, He can take all my sins away and make me PURE and white, just like snow.

I want to be with my husband forever. I want to be with my family and friends. I want to be with my little boy who I miss so much. I want to have eternal life and everlasting joy. I want to be surrounded by my family and friends in PURE joy!

My husband, the awesome stud he is, ;) wrote, sang and composed a beautiful song while we were dating and going through some rough times together. It's called, "Return to You." I wanted to share it so I put it together in a slide show. Ryan's goals and greatest desires were and are to do good continually, obey God and return to live with Him again having eternal life and exaltation. This is why I married him, (and the fact that he is unbelievably HOT!!:) We both had and still have these same desires and goals and I love that we can do it together. Ryan is a great example to me and is always wanting to be better. He tries hard at everything he does and makes me so proud.

I am grateful for the church and for my testimony and for the spirit in my life. I don't know what I would do without that knowledge, that Christ lives and has suffered for me so I can return to live with Him again. That there is always hope and it's never too late to repent and Return to Him. I hope everyone can remember the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior during this holiday season!

Merry Christmas!!!

Thanskgiving Weekend! (never to late to be Thankful!)

Thanksgiving weekend was a blast! We had my family (My parents, Celeste, Randy, Adam, Genn and Colton) over at our house this year for the grand feast. I was a little nervous cooking the turkey as I burn everything, remember? But it actually turned out pretty good, as in, I didn't burn it :). I don't have any pictures to show for it, so you will just have to trust me on this. Of course I couldn't have done it all by myself. My lovely mom brought the yams, the rolls and a pumpkin pie cake. And my beautiful sister-in-law, Genn, brought a delicious broccoli and bacon salad and two pies. Everything was so good! Sometimes I wish Thanksgiving was everyday of the year...of course then I would weigh like 800 pounds, but then, we ALL would. :)

I wanted to get pictures of the whole day, but forgot to do that as things were a little crazy, however I did snap a few pics of the girls and their Grandpa Newman. I also got a few video clips of my family doing the Hula Hoop on the Wii that I wanted to share, that is quite hilarious, but it still won't let me download videos! ugh.

Madi gets poked in the eye.Grandpa gets picked in the nose.


A few hours after our Thanksgiving meal, Ryan and I drove down to Utah with Ryan's aunt and uncle, Wendy and Jerry. Ryan's dad got remarried on November 28th. So we flew from Salt Lake to Colorado on Friday morning. It was so much fun to hang out with Ryan's family! It's been a few years since we have all been together. I don't think there was a minute from the whole trip where we weren't all laughing and having a great time...well, except when we were sleeping, and even then we were probably smiling. :)

Hey, this is Ryan. I would like to write about jamming out with my brothers. I didn't realize how good they had become at the guitar and the drums! They totally rocked out and I did a little rocking myself on our 25 year old keyboard. I am so proud of how far they've come! Can you say awesome?!?

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Wedding Day!!

My dad married a wonderful woman named, Trudy and the ceremony and festivities went great! Dad looked awesome and Trudy looked beautiful!

Nate's wife, Erin and Sean's Fiancee, Jeanette.

We were so touched and started bawling when they lit a candle in remembrance of our little boy, Ethan.Dad and Trudy thanking everyone who came and sharing their love with all of us.

First Dance

Wendy and Jerry gettin' giggy with it!

Jerry had some sweet moves! :0Look at that stud!

A bunch of goof balls.

Say it..."Aww!" ;)

(*Sorry, I didn't get any goofy or nice pictures of Erin and Nate together! Gosh I'm an Idiot!)